union county, n.J., man charged
with impersonating federal officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 12, 2012

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, N.J., man was arrested this morning on charges of falsely impersonating a federal officer in order to defraud aliens seeking immigration assistance, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Ruben Alvarado, 27, of Elizabeth, N.J., was charged by Complaint with one count of impersonating a federal officer and one count of identification document fraud. He is scheduled to appear today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court.

According to the Complaint:

From September 2009 through May 2011, Alvarado pretended to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration. Alvarado targeted victims (via Facebook and in person) who desired to obtain federal employment, legal status (or more permanent legal status), or work or travel authorization in the United States

Alvarado would provide his victims false approvals of their applications, often on forms inappropriate to the relief requested, that bore his signature as a purported officer of the United States. Alvarado would threaten victims who complained that the materials were not genuine by saying, in sum and substance, that his position at ICE vested him with the power to have them and their children deported. Alvarado took no action to further his victims’ legal or employment status, but demanded and obtained payments from his victims totaling more than $17,000.

The count of impersonating a federal officer is punishable by a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The count of identification document fraud is punishable by a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Both also carry a statutory maximum fine of $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security -ICE, Office of Professional Responsibility, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Northeast Terence Opiola; HSI-OIG in Miami, Fla.; and the Union County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow, with the investigation leading to the arrest.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.